doing.
Thea Harlow, if you use her size to undermine her comments, even in your own head, then you are no better than she is, she mentally chided herself
“Oh, fuck this,” a voice further back in the line said, and Thea found her arm in the tight grip of another woman, who was leading her back toward the dance floor.
“Seriously, I would rather piss my pants than listen to one more word from that drunken skank,” the tall blonde said in Thea’s ear.
Thea couldn’t hold back a laugh and allowed herself to be steered to the edge of the crowd.
“Look, this will make you feel better,” blondie said kindly, opening the hand that wasn’t gripped to Thea’s biceps and revealing a small blue pill in her palm.
“Oh, no thank you,” Thea said, feeling light-headed already.
“You don’t get it, this is Syncope, amazing stuff,” blondie insisted.
“Nope, I actually have to leave. Thanks anyway,” Thea said, extricating herself from the death grip and disappearing herself through the crowd and back to the VIP lounge.
Jade was half in Dante’s lap.
“Jade, the fights have already started, we really should go,” Thea said loudly, assuming Jade would jump out of his arms.
“I know, I know, we’ll get there,” Jade said, and went back to her quiet chat with Dante.
Thea slipped her phone out of her pocket. It was a cheap model, not like the fancy, big-screened one Jade sported, but Thea had burned out too many cell phones lately to keep spending money on them. She used to have a lot more control, but lately, she’d been having problems keeping her special abilities in check.
She scrolled through her messages. There were several that shouldn’t wait. Why hadn’t she just gone back to her room?
“Is this seat taken?” a deep male voice asked.
Thea looked up to see a big guy with a neatly trimmed beard indicating the half-seat beside her on the booth.
“Sorry, we’re getting ready to leave,” she said quickly. “Jade, seriously, we need to go.”
“We’re having fun. And Chance’s fight is the main event, so it will be last anyway,” Jade replied without making eye contact.
“You know what, I’ll just take an Uber,” Thea said, trying not to lose her temper. She’d thought Jade was a friend, but she sure wasn’t acting like one.
“Ubers are for basic bitches,” Jade said firmly. “We have a limo.”
“Well, I’m leaving now,” Thea said, getting up.
“Fine, fine, want a ride, Dante?” Jade offered.
“Yeah,” Dante said, grabbing Jade’s ass as she climbed out of the booth.
Jade shrieked with parrot-like laughter and Dante chased her out to the sidewalk, Thea trailing behind them as if she were the cans dragging behind the newlyweds’ car.
The ride to the casino was insane. At first Jade and Dante satisfied themselves whispering into each other’s ears, Jade turning pink from giggling.
Then he wrapped his arms around her and they started kissing like they were the last two people on earth.
Thea was no prude, but Jade had a boyfriend. And the limo meant all their knees were touching. She was practically in on the action.
When Dante opened his eyes mid-kiss and extended a hand to invite her into the action officially, she felt a little of the delicious dinner crawling back up her throat.
She shook her head looked pointedly out the window. She tried to open it to get some fresh air, but it wouldn’t budge. Thea cursed under her breath, unsure if it was because she’d shorted the thing out somehow, or she was just missing some kind of lock. Before she had time to puzzle it out, they had arrived.
“I’ll meet you inside,” Jade said thickly through Dante’s kiss.
Thea didn’t bother to acknowledge her.
Pushing down her thoughts on the hideous last hour of her evening, Thea pulled herself together and headed into the casino.
Now it was time to join a crowd of bloodthirsty, beer-soaked people, gawking as one sweaty guy did his best to knock the living daylights